We Sleep in Our Cars for Gas.” Amid the Fuel Shortage, a Gray Market Has Emerged, ...

Forwarded From Mozhem Obyasnit

“We Sleep in Our Cars for Gas.” Amid the Fuel Shortage, a Gray Market Has Emerged, People Are Buying Up Sugar, Buckwheat, and Salt and Switching to Bicycles. The Crisis in Crimea Through the Eyes of Sevastopol Residents

After Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks on logistical infrastructure, Crimea has faced shortages of fuel and food products. Queues have formed at gas stations, and residents of the peninsula are increasingly complaining of a sense of isolation. “MO” spoke with three residents of Sevastopol about how life in the city and across the entire peninsula annexed by Russia has changed over the past few weeks.📌“I try not to get behind the wheel unless I have to”Our interlocutors say that fuel has become the main scarce commodity of recent weeks. According to them, corporate fuel cards have stopped working, people are trying to use their cars less often, and they are keeping a supply of gasoline “for a rainy day.” Lines at gas stations stretch for several kilometers, and people have to wait for several hours, with no guarantees that the gas will not run out right before they reach the pump. Some residents have already given up driving, switching to bicycles or public transport. “In Sevastopol, you can say with confidence that there is simply no gasoline. I walk my children to kindergarten and commute to work by bicycle. I try not to get behind the wheel unless I have to.”

📌QR codes, limits, and a new business built on shortage

At some gas stations, a QR code system is in place: fuel is sold only by advance booking, with a limit of no more than 20 liters per person. An employee at one of the stations says that on ordinary days the situation remains calm, but during air raid alerts or after reports that the daily limit has been reached, people start to get nervous. A gray fuel market has also emerged because of the shortage. Entrepreneurs travel to the mainland for gasoline, buy canisters, and then resell the fuel in Sevastopol. The price per liter on this market reaches 180–250 rubles..

📌Children sit in shelters in kindergartensInterlocutors of “MO” say that air raid alerts sound several times a day. Residents of outlying and coastal areas regularly hear explosions, and transport operations are being interrupted more and more often. According to parents, children in kindergartens spend a lot of time in shelters. Because of the alerts, commuter trains are stopped and usual travel routes are changed. “I already joke that I’m taking my children not to kindergarten, but to a basement.”

📌So far, no serious shortage of food products

Residents of Sevastopol note that there are no serious disruptions in food supplies so far, but some goods have already started disappearing from the shelves. First of all, residents are buying up sugar, rice, buckwheat, and salt. According to “MO”’s interlocutors, the situation is increasingly reminiscent of the first months after the start of the war: “it looks like what it was in 2022.”

📌“Even loyalists are panicking”

According to local residents, practically everyone is discussing the fuel crisis. But many prefer not to discuss the causes of what is happening in public. “MO”’s interlocutors admit that they try to talk about it only in closed chats and messengers. “In my circle, even loyalists are panicking. They are expecting things to get worse.”

The full account from the peninsula’s residents is read on the website.

About how Crimea, at the height of the holiday season, is becoming a disaster zone and an undeclared state of emergency, watch in the new episode of the program “Mozhem Obyasnit.”

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“We Sleep in Our Cars for Gas”

Residents of Sevastopol on what is happening in “blockaded” Crimea because of the fuel crisis and constant alerts